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BANFF NATIONAL PARK — A $1.7-million repair to the flood-damaged Legacy Trail in Banff National Park is now complete, providing a safer route for cyclists and rehabilitating a creek along the pathway that could ultimately help threatened fish. During the June 2013 floods, a section of the paved trail parallel to the Trans-Canada Highway was washed out by Cascade creek.

Premier Jim Prentice’s suite of flood mitigation announcements, including the approval of a massive dry reservoir west of the city, was met with skepticism by an incredulous Calgary mayor and outrage from Springbank landowners. “We do not believe one community should be destroyed in an effort to try to protect another,” said Ryan Robinson, spokesman for the Don’t Damn Springbank group. “Is this what landowner’s rights means to this government?”

Albertans were asked Wednesday to reduce power consumption in the wake of an unexpected power plant shutdown that has left the province’s electricity system “stressed.” With temperatures across Alberta hitting the 30C mark and higher, the province’s power grid is carrying a heavy load. On Tuesday afternoon, demand for power spiked to a record 10,413 MW, according to the Alberta Electric System Operator.

A lawyer for a TransAlta employee accused of insider trading in the deregulated Alberta electricity market says his client was “sandbagged” by the market watchdog. Steve Leitl told the Alberta Utilities Commission on Thursday that the Market Surveillance Administrator never advised Nathan Kaiser of its case against him when it questioned him more than three years into its investigation into allegations that TransAlta manipulated the power market.

Calgary flood victims along the Bow River may not get the biggest flood protection, but will see one of the quickest measures. After Elbow and Highwood River residents got big provincial news about flood mitigation, those along the Bow had to wait until June to hear about how Alberta Environment can protect them.

CALGARY — TransAlta Corp., facing charges of utility market manipulation in Alberta, has agreed to pay $149 million to settle unfair pricing allegations in California dating back to 2000-2001. On Wednesday, the U.S. Federal Energy Regulatory Commission approved the payment by subsidiary TransAlta Energy Marketing to public utilities affected by manipulation of electric and natural gas prices during the California energy crisis 13 years ago.

CALGARY — The owner of the proposed $200-million Hand Hills wind power project near Drumheller has won Alberta Utilities Commission approval for a four-year delay in its completion schedule. Privately held Calgary green power company BluEarth Renewables Inc. cited a delay in winning regulatory approval for the lines that would connect the project to the provincial grid in its request to change its completion date from Dec. 31, 2014, to Dec. 31, 2018.

EDMONTON — The Alberta Utilities Commission has dismissed TransAlta’s complaint it has been unfairly treated by the electricity market watchdog, and has set a date to hear market manipulation charges against the utility. The commission ruled the complaints filed against the Market Surveillance Administrator by TransAlta and two of its traders must be dismissed because they are related to the allegations against the utility.

The three newest faces at the Calgary Zoo are hard to miss. With their vibrant, colourful markings in blue, yellow and red, a trio of mandrill monkeys are have moved into the zoo’s rainforest habitat. Brothers Yosufu, 10, Tumbili, 9, and Babu, 7, were a little shy at their media debut Friday, but zoo visitors will have plenty of time to get to know them as they mature into their newly renovated enclosure in the TransAlta Rainforest Building. The first new species to join the zoo after last year’s flood damage, the Herald caught up with zoo curator Dr. Malu Celli to find out what we can expect from these exotic additions.

The Calgary Zoo’s TransAlta Rainforest is an 11-year-old facility that’s home to a range of residents, including gorillas, boa constrictors and small fish. With mandrills set to debut there within weeks, the zoo is unveiling a series of upgrades it’s completed in the building. The changes are part of $5.2 million the zoo has spent in the last three years to improve animal care facilities, says general curator Jamie Dorgan. “Anything we’re doing here, we’re really looking (at) conservation, welfare, to focus on that, and deliver that visitor experience along with it,” he says. On Thursday, the zoo gave media a behind-the-scenes look at the rainforest upgrades. Jamie Komarnicki explains five things that have changed.

The 2013 flood left five people dead and destroyed property, but a new report says mitigation measures being debated to protect against future flooding would have severe consequences for other communities and the environment. Called the Bow Basin Flood Mitigation and Watershed Management Project, the report by Alberta WaterSmart studied the trade offs of various flood mitigation options on the river systems.

Energy firms and large corporations were among the biggest donors to Alberta political parties last year, but critics say it’s more evidence the province’s political financing rules need a major overhaul. A review of Elections Alberta filings show Encana, TransAlta, Enbridge, Suncor and BFI Canada donated an average of $20,000 each to political parties in 2013, ranking them among the biggest financial contributors in Alberta politics.

At the Forrest Kerr hydroelectric project in densely forested northwestern B.C., construction crews are putting the final touches on a $725-million plan to begin putting 195 megawatts of clean power on the grid in the next two months. The massive run-of-river project — the largest of three in the area being developed by Calgary-based AltaGas Ltd. at a total cost of $1 billion — is four hours drive north on Highway 37 from Terrace, then 17 kilometres up a winding mining road to the heart of the traditional Tahltan Nation lands.

Alberta’s electricity market watchdog is seeking to ban a former and a current TransAlta employee from energy trading after a 32-month investigation in alleged manipulation of power prices by the province’s largest utility. The Market Surveillance Administrator (MSA) says in a document filed with the provincial regulator that traders Scott Connelly and Nathan Kaiser participated in a strategy by TransAlta to boost power prices and profits by orchestrating discretionary power plant shutdowns during periods of peak demand.

EDMONTON — Top executives at TransAlta approved the strategy of shutting down power plants temporarily to drive up electricity prices for millions of dollars in profits — and company officials congratulated each other about how well it was working, according to documents filed with the provincial electricity regulator. Three TransAlta vice-presidents, including the vice-president of regulatory and legal affairs, approved a portfolio bidding strategy in November 2010 to stage discretionary plant outages during peak periods to drive up the price of electricity, the market watchdog alleges in documents filed to the Alberta Utilities Commission (AUC) this week.

Premier Alison Redford said Thursday she’s not happy with allegations a major company moved improperly to drive up Alberta’s power prices, but said oversight of the province’s deregulated electricity market is working as it should. Alberta’s Market Surveillance Administrator filed the accusation against TransAlta Inc. earlier this week, claiming the Calgary-based company “undermined the integrity of the Alberta wholesale electric energy market by engaging in anti-competitive conduct.”

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